The Education Minister, Tahir Mamman, says as from next year, candidates under the age of 18 will no longer be allowed to sit the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) and the National Examinations Council (NECO).
He also stated that after the university admission cycles this year, every candidate for varsity admission as from next year must be at least 18 years old.
He reemphasised that underage candidates will no longer be allowed to sit the secondary school leaving examinations.
Mamman stated this on Channels TV’s Sunday Politics programme.
He said the Federal Government has instructed the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) which administers the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) and the National Examinations Council (NECO) which organises the Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) to comply with the directive on 18-year age limit for any candidate to be eligible for the two examinations.
Mamman also insisted that the minimum age for any candidate to be admitted to any Nigerian university remains 18 years.
The minister said, “It is 18 (years). What we did at the meeting that we had with the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) (in July) was to allow this year and for it to serve as a kind of notice for parents that this year, JAMB will admit students who are below that age; but from next year, JAMB is going to insist that anybody applying to go to university in Nigeria meets the required age, which is 18.
“For the avoidance of doubt, this is not a new policy; this is a policy that has been there for a long time.
“Even basically, if you compute the number of years pupils and learners are supposed to be in school, the number you will end up with is 17-and-a-half — from early child care to primary school to junior secondary school and then senior secondary school. You will end up with 17-and-a-half by the time they are ready for admission.
“So, we are not coming up with new policy, contrary to what some people are saying; we are just simply reminding people of what exists.
“In any case, NECO and WAEC, henceforth will not be allowing underage children to write their examinations. In other words, if somebody has not spent the requisite number of years in that particular level of study, WAEC and NECO will not allow them to write the examination.”
The minister went further to give a breakdown of the number of years pupils are expected to spend between child care and senior secondary school.
According to him, early care is expected to last for the first five years. Pupils are expected to begin primary one at the age of six, spend six years in primary school and move to junior secondary school at the age of 12, spend three years, before moving to senior secondary school at the age of 15, to spend three more years and leave for university at the age of 18.
Asked what happens to specially talented children who are exceptional, he said their issue would be given a special consideration but insisted that this is yet to be done, noting that in Nigeria, it is easy to abuse special windows.
